


Training

by tacky_tramp



Category: Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 21:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacky_tramp/pseuds/tacky_tramp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the ruined Sootwarrens, it's time for Elend's training to begin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Training

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Quettaser](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quettaser/gifts).



> I was really tempted to write some allomantic porn, but this happened instead. Alas!

The bag of coins was light in his left hand and the vial of metals was smooth and cool in his right. _These are my tools now_ , he thought. _No more pen and paper._ Not that he'd been particularly skilled with those when it counted. He hoped these would suit him better.

Elend walked through the darkening streets of Luthadel. Vin walked by his side, mistcloak fluttering gently behind her. Despite her slight stature, her stride was long and fluid. He, on the other hand, felt stiff and ungainly. His wounds from the Well weren't fully healed, and though he'd been instinctively burning pewter during his long delirium, Vin had instructed him to let it run out. He had no metals inside him – just the vial in his palm.

They were near Tin Gate, in the Sootwarrens. Well, in the rubble that had once been the Sootwarrens. Koloss had rampaged here and the slum was wrecked and empty. The skaa residents who hadn't starved during the winter siege or died in the battle were living elsewhere now. Vin and Elend were alone. It was time for his training to begin.

The sun had dropped below the city walls, casting long shadows over everything inside. The air cooled and somehow … thickened. The mist was coming.

It didn't roll in like a fog bank, or rise from the ground like steam, or come down from the sky like low-hanging clouds. As Elend looked around, he saw it appear in mid-air like fast-growing vines spouting from nothing. In seconds, it coalesced into the familiar opaque substance he'd seen every night of his life. He could only see a few yards in the mists, and he abruptly realized Vin was no longer beside him. In fact, he couldn't see her at all. Or anything else.

“Vin?” he called, working to keep his voice steady.

“I'm close by,” she said. Her voice sounded distant to Elend, but “close” was a relative term. With her speed, she could cover huge distances in an instant. He didn't like being surrounded by the mists, which had always seemed strange and threatening, but he took a deep breath and let his anxiety subside.

Vin spoke again. “Kelsier taught me that the mists are our friend. They hide us. Protect us. Give us power.” She paused, and the quiet stretched out for a long moment. Then she said, “Go ahead and drink, but don't start burning anything yet.”

He looked down at the little glass vial in his hand. With the light fading, he could barely make out the metal flakes floating inside. All the metals were there. All the metals they knew of, anyway. Except atium. As he raised the vial to his lips, he wondered idly if he'd ever get to burn atium. The way it was described, it sounded – 

He stopped. A reserve of power materialized inside him. He'd felt pewter, of course, but this was so much more. Marveling at the new sensation, he focused on it, exploring it. He could feel each distinct metal, and somehow, he could identify each one by the way it felt. There was copper, there was zinc, there was steel. That was something Mistborn didn't need to be taught, apparently.

“What are you thinking?” he heard Vin ask from somewhere in the mist.

“This is so interesting. It's like each one is ... a light of a different color. Or a different flavor in a meal. Or a different instrument. Or a voice in a crowd. Or–”

Her laughter came floating through the mist. He looked in that direction. “What?”

“Your face. You look so happy. And it's not because you're a Mistborn with fantastical powers; it's because you get to learn something new.”

“Well,” he said, “that's certainly an added benefit.” Then he smiled slyly. “I bet there are some fascinating books about allomancy in the library. I'll have to go looking for them, and set aside some time for research. Yes, this subject could fill weeks and weeks of reading, pondering, taking notes ...”

He could hear how appalled she was. “Elend Venture, you are not going to learn allomancy from a _book_.”

He laughed. “You're the teacher. I defer to your expertise. Now can I see you?”

“Burn tin, and you'll be able to.”

He found the reserve of tin inside him, and when he focused his attention there, it began to burn. Immediately, the mists vanished. The sudden re-appearance of his surroundings startled him, and he gasped – which sounded like a windstorm in his ears. With the intake of breath, he could smell a fire burning in a hearth somewhere far away. He brought a hand up to his head, and he could feel each individual hair. He looked toward Vin, and he could see her in incredible detail. The smoothness of her skin, the faint scars on her cheeks, the gentle curl of her dark eyelashes, the knowing smile at the corners of her mouth.

“I like looking at you with tin,” he said simply, and he could see her flush. “But I'm confused about something. If you can see me with this much detail, why on earth did you marry me?”

She rolled her eyes. “For your talent for dancing, obviously.” She dropped a coin and flew into the air in a graceful arc, and he watched with envy as she floated closer and then gently landed beside him in a swirl of mistcloak tassels. 

“When do I get to do that?” he asked.

“Don't get ahead of yourself,” she replied. She reached for Elend's hand, the one still holding the bag of coins. She pulled one clip from the bag and held it up. Her face was serious. “This is your first lesson. Every action has consequences. Push on something heavy and it will push you back. Push on something light and it will fly away. Allomancy is about cause and effect. You'll learn to use the right amount of force to cause the effect you want – no more, no less.” She took his other hand and placed the coin in his palm. Then she nodded toward one of the ruined tenements. There was a door propped up against what remained of a wall. Someone had painted three concentric circles with a large dot in the center. A target.

He met her eyes, and she grinned. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

And he Pushed.


End file.
